That Was Then 1.26.07: The Glory Days Of The Intercontinental Title Part 2

Part III: All In The Family

Mr Perfect was undeniably an excellent technical wrestler, but Bret Hart was easily his equal and quite possibly his superior, and was healthy to boot. Perfect had been forced to make infrequent title defenses due to his condition, but Bret came out of the gates running and took on all comers. In a promotion where the bigger, stronger wrestlers were considered to be superior, Bret stood out with his ability to find ways to beat much bigger opponents such as the Warlord, the Barbarian, and Hercules. Bret took pride in the fact that he was able to use his wrestling skill to circumvent the size disadvantage he was almost always faced with. In the end, his pride was his undoing, because when the Mountie attacked Bret Hart by pouring water on him and zapping him with a cattle prod to draw him into a title feud, the Mountie became the new top challenger to the Intercontinental Title despite his unimpressive record. The Mountie was very much like the Honky Tonk Man in that his actual wrestling skill was questionable, but his luck and willingness to cheat were his greatest weapons. And that luck brought him the Intercontinental Title in January of 1992, the Mountie reversed a Bret Hart cradle attempt, much like Honky had done to Steamboat, and won the title at an untelevised show in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Unfortunately for the Mountie, his lucky streak would not bring him a long run with the Intercontinental Title. While the Honky Tonk Man had strung together the longest reign in the history of the title, the Mountie had what was at that time the shortest, because he dropped the title a mere two days later to Roddy Piper. Although this was not common knowledge at the time, Piper was nearing the end of his full-time career, and his run with the title was partially a reward for his years of service. Though Piper was very proud of holding the Intercontinental Title, the only title he had ever held in the WWF, he also had a short reign that was also designed to transition the title back to Bret (who had worked out the contract problems that had resulted in him dropping the title in the first place) at Wrestlemania 8. The match started out as a friendly contest, but quickly degenerated into a brawl that favored the rough Piper. Bret bled heavily, but reversed a sleeper attempt by Piper into a pinning combination for the win, making him one of the few men to have ever pinned Piper. This win did a lot to legitimize Bret as a real player, because he had just cleanly defeated a guy who had been a main eventer and a top name in the business for years, one that even Hulk Hogan hadn’t been able to pin.

Bret was on a roll through the spring and summer of 1992, scoring wins over people like Rick Martel, the Mountie, and Shawn Michaels. Many of the matches against Michaels were ladder matches, the first in the company’s history. All of the matches against Michaels were close, and it was a fair assumption that Michaels would be challenging Bret for the title at Summerslam. However, when it was announced that Summerslam would be held at Wembley Stadium in London, the announcement was simultaneously made that Davey Boy Smith, a British native, would be getting the shot at the Intercontinental Title, not Michaels. Another twist was revelaed soon after: Davey Boy was Bret’s brother-in-law, having married Bret’s sister Diana. The family tension was a unique angle not often seen in wrestling at that point, and the interest level in the match was high as a result. The Bret-Davey Boy match ended up closing the show, the only time an Intercontinental Title match has closed a WWF PPV. This was a wise move because nothing else on the show could have followed it, and Bret has often called the Summerslam match his favorite ever. Not only was it an excellent match (maybe the best of the year and among the best of the decade) with an enormous amount of crowd heat and an awesome angle behind it, but it was also Bret’s crowning achievement as a worker. Davey Boy blew up just a couple of minutes into the match and was shot, so for the next twenty minutes, Bret basically wrestled the match by himself. The fact that he was able to not only work the match singlehandedly, but to make it undetectable by the average fan AND make it one of the best matches of the year on top of that showed what an unbelievable worker Bret was.

However, as great as Summerslam made Bret look to smart fans and people in the know, it was Davey Boy’s night, and he reversed a sunset flip attempt by Bret into a cradle for the win. Bret, Davey Boy, and Diana all hugged in the middle of the ring to the cheers of the fans in Wembley Stadium. It was an excellent match, but unfortunately the championship victory was the highlight of Davey Boy’s run with the title. He rarely appeared on TV after Summerslam, and lost the title to Shawn Michaels less than two months later.

Part IV: The Clique Years

After the Hart family had their turn controlling the Intercontinental Title, it was time for the Clique to get their shot, and between three members of the group, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, and Diesel, most of the next three years saw the Intercontinental Title around the waist of a member of the group.

In defeating Davey Boy to win the title, Michaels felt he had vindicated himself since he thought he should have gotten the shot at Bret Hart at Summerslam the begin with. But now with the Intercontinental Title firmly around his waist, Michaels again put himself in line for a shot at Bret Hart, this time for the WWF World Title Hart now held. He failed to beat Bret when they met at Survivor Series 1992, but from there he went on a long, impressive run defending the Intercontinental Title. Over the winter and spring, he defeated not only his former partner Marty Jannetty, but other perennial title contenders such as Tatanka, Jim Duggan, and even scored some wins over Randy Savage, who was by this point a two-time former WWF World Champion. He patterned his championship style after two great former champions, Mr Perfect and the Honky Tonk Man. Like Perfect, he beat nearly everybody thrown in his path, and like Honky, he would just walk out and take a countout or DQ loss against the people he couldn’t beat. What made Michaels special as the Intercontinental Champion was that he could absorb an incredible amount of punishment, bouncing around like a pinball yet still able to kick out of every pin attempt by his opponents, often when the referee’s hand was mere inches away from completing the three count. The fact that he was one of the smallest people to ever hold the title often made this an amazing visual. Although he did suffer a shock defeat to Jannetty when his former partner appeared unannounced and challenged Michaels to an impromptu match, Michaels regained the title mere weeks later with the help of his new seven foot tall, 300 pound bodyguard Diesel.

As if Michaels wasn’t a tough enough nut to crack on his own, he was now practically unbeatable with Diesel in his corner. With the aid of his new bodybuard, Michaels regained the title from Jannetty and then went on to score wins over more people he might have seemed otherwise overmatched against like Crush, Mr Perfect, and the 123 Kid. However, Michaels soon fell into some hot water with WWF management and was forced to give up the title and take some time at home as a result. The Intercontinental Title, now vacant for only the second time, was put up for grabs in a battle royal where the two final participants would compete against one another in a singles match for the title. The mini-tournament was won by Razor Ramon, and Razor started racking up some wins that more than made up for the flaky win/loss record he had been posting prior to winning the title. Michaels soon returned, claiming to still be the Intercontinental Champion since he had never actually been beaten for the title. To settle the dispute, Michaels and Razor faced off at Wrestlemania 10 in the now famous Ladder Match which has often been called the greatest match of the 90s. Razor won the match, but Michaels also put in one hell of an effort, and the pounding both men took won a lot of fan support that night.

But even though Razor had won the match, Michaels was not yet out of the picture. He began challenging Razor week after week on behalf of Diesel, and when Razor finally accepted the challenge, Diesel now benefited from the interference of Michaels, whipping Razor into an exposed turnbuckle and giving him the Jackknife powerbomb to win the title. Diesel was an interesting case as Intercontinental Champion, for while he certainly didn’t fit the mold of the typical smaller, technically-based Intercontinental Champion, he did make history by being the largest Intercontinental Champion at that point. Rather than concentrate on defending the title right away, he instead challenged Bret Hart for the WWF World Title much like Michaels had done right after winning the title. Diesel gave Bret the Jackknife, but before he could attempt a pin, Jim Neidhart interfered and caused a DQ. Bret left with the title, but being that there was a very real chance that he could have pinned Bret and won the title, Diesel became the first Intercontinental Champion since the Ultimate Warrior who appeared capable of defeating the WWF World Champion for the title. From there, it was more gold as he and Michaels won the WWF Tag Team Title from the Headshrinkers, and Diesel became the first man to hold both the Intercontinental and Tag Team Titles simultaneously.

His glory would be short lived, because the following night, he lost the Intercontinental Title back to Razor Ramon after the interference of Shawn Michaels backfired. Razor was again the champion, but he dropped the title to Jeff Jarrett a couple of months later. Jarrett was an unspectacular if solid champion, and he and Razor feuded over the Intercontinental Title for most of the spring of 1995 In the end, it was Shawn Michaels and not Razor Ramon who would finally unseat Jarrett for good. Now with the Intercontinental Title firmly back around his waist, Michaels made his first order of business a Ladder Rematch with Razor Ramon. His loss in the first match had eaten at him for a year and a half, but Michaels won the second match, which saw both men pull out even more innovative and dangerous spots than the first. The following month Michaels teamed with Diesel (now the WWF World Champion) to regain the Tag Team Title and become the first World/Intercontinental Championship team to win the Tag Team Title, although the titles were returned to Owen Hart and Yokozuna on a technicality the next night. Tragedy struck when Michaels was beaten up by a group of men outside a bar in Syracuse, New York, and was forced to give up the title as a result. Although Michaels’ scheduled challenger for the evening, Dean Douglas, would be handed the title as a result, he lost the title that same evening to Razor Ramon. Razor’s final IC Title reign was forgettable, and he the Intercontinental Title seemed like an afterthought to his feud with the 123 Kid while he was often being put in a position of putting over men who were being pushed into a World Title feud such as Sid and Davey Boy Smith. He ended up dropping the title to Goldust at Royal Rumble 1996 and, with that title loss, the Clique’s stranglehold on the Intercontinental Title came to an end.

Part V: The Declining Years

Goldust was undoubtedly among the most unique wrestlers the businness had seen at that point. Dustin Rhodes was the son of wrestling legend Dusty Rhodes, but Dustin chose to make himself over with a gimmick that would completely separate him from his father in the eyes of the fans. To this end, Goldust was created. Goldust wore a full body gold jumpsuit and painted his face gold as well, looknig for all the world like a living Oscar Award. He played into the part perfectly, often referencing movies and delivering classic cinema lines in his promos, even crediting the original actors for the lines he used. As time went on, the gimmick got even weirder, as Goldust began displaying homosexual tendencies, sending love notes to prospective opponents, and even going so far as to grope and/or kiss them when he got them in the ring. It went beyond any of the “effeminate” gimmicks wrestlers of the past had used, and became so notorious that it began drawing angry letters from gay rights groups.

This did not dissuade Dustin or the WWF, and he continued using the character to great success. After defeating Razor Ramon to win the title, he used his unorthodox ways to rack up the wins and had his first Wrestlemania match against WWF legend Roddy Piper in a Hollywood Backlot Brawl. The abrupt end of his championship days came when he took his gimmick a little too far, kissing an unconscious Ahmed Johnson, claiming to have given him mouth-to-mouth to revive him. Johnson freaked out, and when he got his shot at Goldust, the match was a mere formality because Johnson destroyed Goldust and won the title at King Of The Ring 1996. However, Ahmed’s reckless wrestling style was his undoing, as he was forced to give up the title a mere two months after winning it due to injury. Marc Mero won the title in a tournament, but was a blip on the radar, quickly dropping the title to Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Helmsley was also unimpressive as champion, and lost the title to a rookie by the name of Rocky Maivia who was anything but over with the crowd. Maivia was vastly unpopular, but the crowd reactions became even worse when he won the Intercontinental Title, which many fans didn’t feel he deserved.

The title was finally taken off of him and put on Owen Hart, the first really credible Intercontinental Champion in over a year. Owen was an excellent worker like his older brother Bret, but was a skilled aerial wrestler as well, and he used that skill in his defenses against various challengers and enemies of the now-reformed Hart Foundation in 1997. He ended up losing the title to Steve Austin, a hot up-and-comer, at Summerslam 97, but an accident during the match nearly ended the new champion’s career. Owen had attemtped to piledrive Austin, but botched the move and dropped Austin on his head, breaking his neck and nearly crippling him. Austin was able to somehow muster the strength to roll up Owen for the pin, but was clearly in a bad way, having to be carried to the back after the match. The news came soon after that Austin would be forced to give up the Intercontinental Title as a result of his injuries. Owen won the tournament for the vacant title, but quickly lost the title back to Austin, who had healed up enough to get back in the ring at the infamous 1997 Survivor Series.

Austin, however, didn’t care about the Intercontinental Title very much and, rather than be bothered to defend the title against Rocky Maivia (who now called himself The Rock), Austin simply handed him the title…then kicked his ass for fun. With Austin out pursuing the WWF World Title, the Rock went on a long run with the Intercontinental Title, longer than anyone had gone on since the reign of Shawn Michaels in 1992-93. The Rock held the title for eight months, making it past stiff competition like Ken Shamrock, Billy Gunn, Road Dogg, Dan Severn, Owen Hart, Faarooq, and others before finally dropping it in a Ladder Match to his old rival, Triple H (formerly known as Hunter Hearst Helmsley) as Triple H avenged the title loss he had suffered almost two years earlier. This was Triple H’s first decisive win over the Rock, and with this win, Triple H seemed sure to go on another, longer, more successful run with the Intercontinental Title.

But it was not to be.

Conclusion

Triple H suffered a knee injury in the Ladder Match and, though he wanted to work through the injury, he was forced to give up the title and get knee surgery to repair the damage. Ken Shamrock won the title in a one-night tournament on Monday Night Raw, but the glory days of the Intercontinental Title were over. In the days ahead, in stark contrast to the often months-long title reigns of the champions of the past, the Intercontinental Title would often change hands several times in a month or even a single night. The title that was once seen as a steppingstone to the WWF World Title and a designation as one of the top ring generals in the game became an afterthought, something tossed seemingly at random wrestlers for no good reason, devaluing the title that usually promised the best match on the card to the point where it meant next to nothing.